#clearly I have many thoughts on this character who has been mentioned maybe 3 times

[lesbianlothcats]

As a neurodivergent person, Tech’s death being permanent — and the only major non-villain character to die — hurts.

Tech was neurodivergent. He was clearly written to be, and he was written so well for it. His pragmatism, his bluntness, it resonated with me and so many other people. His conversation with Omega about change, and his quote “I may process moments and thoughts differently, but it does not mean I feel any less than you” genuinely brought me to tears. We had a neurodivergent character who was loved and understood despite his differences.

His sacrifice hurt, but it was well within character. The loss of the representation was painful, but that’s how it is.

And then season 3. Constant hints, constant teases, lingering shots and implications. People who believed Tech was alive weren’t just seeing what they wanted to see, they were seeing what the show was implying. Taking a look at the production teams’ social media accounts doubles down on that we were supposed to think he was still alive. They dangled the possibility Tech in front of us to keep us hoping instead of just confirming that he was gone.

And within the show, it was like he just wasn’t there right now. Barely any references. Sure, there was a time skip of several months, but we didn’t get to see any of the grief these characters had to have felt. It’s not that we needed to be told it, it could have been implied, but it was barely there. A few shots of his broken glasses, off handed remarks. There was a huge hole in the season in the shape of Tech that no one would acknowledge. Maybe it was building towards a major character moment where they actually talk about it, or a reveal that he was still alive.

And then…nothing. All the implications, all the teasing, nothing. No reveals, nothing. They surgically removed Tech, completely excised him. Nothing but the broken glasses. A character who resonated with so many people just utterly dismissed and forgotten.

It sounds overdramatic, but this season has been like a kick in the gut to people who loved Tech. He went from being the most genuinely beautiful representation of neurodivergency to vague tragedy that no one wants to mention, but won’t stop hinting at.

It hurts.

[lurkinggirlie]

Elain & Azriel are EndGame

Azriel’s bonus chapter: semi-essay on my thoughts

This post will be a long one. The shipwar has been going on for far too long, and there's a possiblity that we'll be getting closure soon. So, I want to put my thoughts out there. For Obvious reasons, I could be very wrong, but this is what I think based on canon text: (Ignore any errors..I haven't edited this, and I'm sure there are many posts like this that are way more articulate)

Elriel are endgame. If they’re not then Azriel is kinda pathetic and having him end-up with anyone else is bad writing and character assassination. (Which we sadly won’t put past sjm but I don’t think she would..at least I hope)

1- Elain has no other love interest. Yes, Lucien is her mate but we have hinted at a broken/rejected mating bond for the longest time when it comes to these two so having them accept it eventually is going to be quite underwhelming, repetitive and boring. Even Lucien seems to have given up/isn’t interested in bridging that gap between them, which we’re told in both acofas and acosf. Unless you want to count the longing pointed out by Cassian, although Cassian also pointed out that Lucien was also uncomfortable when he mentioned his mate. To add on, there is no sexual tension between the two, and we know how important that is for sjm’s couple. You can't keep whining "but Elain isn't giving him a chance, if only she gave him a chance, then maybe this and maybe that" Elain is not a seprate entity, she is what SJM writes, Sjm could have written that but she did not yet and I'm not sure if she will. It feels too late at this point, she had already shown us that Elain has feelings for someone else aka Azriel. The author doesn't have to spell everything out for us to understand to what's going on. Sarah usually makes it clear who's endgame. and she literally is. So, it would be very sudden and out of the blue if Lucien and Elain were to end up together when she had never shown it before. When even Azriel pointed this out “I think Lucien will never be good enough for her, and she has no interest in him, anyway” people can say Rhys killed elriel, that the bonus chapter ended them. But this line right here tells us otherwise! First we know Azriel and Elain can read each other so well that they don’t need words, and then Azriel tells us this. He’s literally telling us that Elain does not want Lucien.

We also cannot compare elucien to Feysand or Nessian in the “enemies to lovers" department, because these two seem to hardly care about each other. For obvious reasons she wouldn’t accept or reject Lucien in a book that isn’t hers. But if they do end up together I’d feel robbed that she had more sexual tension with Azriel than she did with Lucien. And we know that Nessian and Feysand had sexual tension before getting together. Most of what we got from Elain and Lucien was awkwardness, and discomfort. Not a single spark. Furthermore, it would feel like Azriel was just leading Elain own. Plus their romance (Lucien and Elain)  would not feel organic, only getting with Lucien because she felt rejected by Azriel, which doesn’t give epic romance no matter how sjm tries to spin it. It would always make Lucien seem like the second choice.

2- Azriel regifting the necklace was a dickhead move, and offensive to both girls. Anyone thinking the regifting of the necklace ended elriel or started gwynriel is delusional and clearly doesn’t know how the romance genre works. (should’ve thrown the gift in the Sidra like Cassain did) I can’t believe Rhys isn’t paying Azriel enough that he felt the need to return the necklace to the shop instead of throwing it. Senstive Illyrian baby indeed. 

3- Rhys saying stay away from Elain (can we take a moment to appreciate how sexy Rhys was for pulling rank, he really made the ship more interesting now) and Azriel actually listening to him?? When he told him you can’t order me to do that. shit would be underwhelming if Azriel actually stayed away? Hello? Secret relationship potential ? Hello? Forbidden romance potential  ??? The tropes would be epic. Sjm had never done that. And I’m not saying she will, but this is how I see it playing out. + Azriel saying it was a mistake to Elain, and Elain apologizing?? The fact she was confused/hurt and probably thought she misunderstood the whole situation? SHE IS BABYGIRL?? Regardless, Azriel saying it was a mistake and it being a mistake is NOT it. This is not how romance works most of the time. This is such a basic romantic trope, why are a lot of people misinterepting it? Elain deserves better, and sjm isn’t about to hurt Elain’s feelings without making it up to her. And she’s definitely not making Azriel end up with another girl before he fixes that shit. I will be needing a proper apology to Elain.  

4- Whenever people think of the bonus chapter they weigh in Azriel’s feelings far more than Elain’s. It’s clear that Elain and Azriel’s feelings are MUTUAL, ignore the bonus chapter and it’s right there in the actual book. I don’t think Elain got the memo that Azriel had  a conversation with another girl after he hurt her feelings which made him realize he’s in love all of a sudden. *sarcasm*  that would be very out of character for Azriel. 

5- His chest sparkling at the thought of Gwyn getting the necklace was so??? I have been saying he’s for the streets and yes this was out of pocket. So, I understand people shipping them. However it could mean anything really, you can't continue saying that Gwyn in the bonus has to mean something, and that that spark must mean somethig but continue to disreagrd every single Elriel interaction like they mean nothing. Because for it to be taken as romance we’d have to ignore the beginning of the bonus, the feysand’s bonus acosf/acomaf/acowar and acofas. + we could easily take this in a platonic way, which is how I viewed it when I read the bonus. Not everything has to be romantic. And sjm will NOT introduce a new guy to make him end up with Elain since we already established Elain doesn’t want Lucien and Lucien doesn’t want her either. 

6- I know that a lot of people have theories about Gwyn being a lightsinger and all of this happening because of her powers (While I do think this is very smart, it wasn’t something I thought of so I won’t talk about it). I do think it’s possible, and all the theories I saw were really cool but idk where sjm is going with this, so to make it simple I do think it could be because she’s his student, she went through a lot it could simply be platonic happiness that a girl who went through so much is going to be happy about something. Even if it was a secondhand necklace specifically picked with ANOTHER girl in mind PLUS I do think sjm wanted drama, and for people to doubt elriel cuz now they have all these obstacles, so Gwyn would be the easy choice, but the second choice regardless. The relationship would feel icky and I genuinely cannot see the potential gwynriels keep talking about. I would take the ship a lot more seriously if a) he didn’t regift her another girl’s necklace b) there was more to them in the actual book. c) he wasn’t still upset about it 3 days later… 

7- There’s a high possibility Gwyn never even got the necklace..

He gave it to Clotho not Gwyn, he didn’t want his name mentioned, and then said if any other girl would like it to give it to them: the aim was to get rid of Elain’s necklace. It’s sort of a parallel with Cassain throwing away Nesta’s present.

I think it’s possible that Azriel went there because he knows how much the girls in the library have suffered, especially since his mom did too, it's possible he thought "okay this is a pretty necklace, I don't want to hold onto the reminder of what could've been, so instead of throwing it let another girl be happy about it. At least it won’t go to waste”

Clotho could tell there was something wrong, like maybe she sensed the energy and decided ayeee let me keep this aside for him, he might come back and ask for it. 

The bonus did not happen at the end of the book 

If Azriel was truly in love with Gwyn now /or he wanted her/ or more between them was going to happen/ or they were mates according to some theories we could have AT LEAST gotten more after the bonus. 

We know the bonus happened after solstice.

Nesta mentions that Azriel was stone-faced and more aloof than usual, he wouldn’t even give her a smile. That was 3 days after the necklace situation. I think it would’ve been a great opportunity to highlight any attraction between Azriel and Gwyn.

Maybe he sees the necklace around her neck, maybe Nesta and Emerie compliment Gwyn’s necklace, or Gwyn telling them she doesn’t know who it’s from, maybe they tease her that someone might have a crush on her. Nesta could’ve pointed out that Azriel was looking at Gwyn’s necklace.or looking at Gwyn in some sort of way. Literally anything. 

Anyone pointing out the way Azriel and Gwyn looked at each other. A charged glance perhaps. Literally ANYTHING. We only got him looking at her with admiration which is very teacher coded. 

If sjm hadn’t made Nesta realize Azriel had a thing for Elain then maybe gwnyriel would’ve been more appealing to me. But no, Nesta noticed. This doesn’t mean nothing people.

aside from that we got nothing romantic, but a part of the fandom still acts like we need to exile Elain because she’s coming between Gwyn and Azriel’s epic love story.

Not everyone has access to the bonus.  

The Azriel chapter was only in ONE store in the US, but Feysand’s bonus chapter was in 3 stores in the US and UK. I don't know but something tells me it’s more important.  Soooo if SJM would do a love interest switch she would not do it in a bonus chapter, and wouldn’t be highlighting the Az/Elain interactions in ACOSF as much as she did. 

Feyre’s chapter focuses on Elain, it literally tells us Elain is next once we’re done helping Nesta. EASY MATH. and the Azriel bonus also focuses on elriel/Azriel’s feelings. ENDGAME MATERIAL RIGHT HERE. 

But the girls swear up and down that Gwyn and Azriel’s book is next because of a secondhand necklace. 

Let’s assume elriels are the delusional ones (like so many of them say), how do we explain these. 

Casual readers who usually read books and aren’t on the internet and aren’t looking for bonus content (wish that was me)  (lord knows I skipped every bonus chapter in throne of glass and crescent city and I wasn’t confused about anything. Not even once) so they’d expect answers for 

The Charged glance between Azriel and Elain

Azriel following the sound of Elain’s laughter. 

Elain looking away when Azriel smiled at her during family dinner, Cassian god bless him that idiot could NOT piece all of that together. BUT it was still highlighted through his POV ???

His secret to tell never hers (and we do learn of that secret in the bonus but people who didn’t read it could only guess so they’d want a confirmation) and sjm did say in one of her lives that Nesta learns of one of Azriel’s secrets (she looked all giddy about it)... and that Azriel is going through some shit right now…and we learn why from the bonus chapter. 

Cassian being confused that it seems like Azriel moved on from Mor

Nesta pointing out that Elain moved on from Graysen

Cassian wondering why Elain is lying about where she’s going. (I viewed this as her avoiding Azriel but idk) 

Azriel’s protectiveness of Elain. He gives mate behavior without the mate part. (I will hit him on the head though omg let my girl do something)

Elain willing to look for the troves even when Nesta wasn’t, the girl wants to do something  (her journey is coming next) 

Nesta wondering if Elain is training with Azriel or the twins (who are spies that were trained by Azriel !!!) 

Feyre telling Azriel that Elain got him beat for secret keeping. Sure it might sound delusional but Elain keeps being compared to Az/being a spy and maybe this could be a thing. 

Elain speaking back to her sisters about them treating her like a child?? Hello finally 

The way Elain’s mother only treated her like a pretty doll which shaped up Elain’s whole life??? I want this from Elain’s POV sooo bad 

In conclusion, we’re not pausing Elain’s story so Azriel can end up with a side character in a spinoff about an og side character, we’re sticking to our og side characters for now.

Azriel being over Mor because of Elain, and Elain moving on from Graysen because of Azriel only for Elain to get over Azriel to be with Lucien (who we got nothing from aside a mating bond..) and for Az to get over Elain and questioning fate for her…only to end up with gwyn…like I don’t think anyone could take Azriel’s feelings seriously if this happens. Shit will be too goofy.  Because if he ends up with Gwyn who says he won’t move on to the next pretty girl he sees afterwards.

To add to that, what plot would we have for Azriel and Gwyn. We'll get more Valkyries training, more healing journey so the plot would have to be paused for this. Nesta’s book was mostly about her healing journey and friendship, while it was nice I don’t want a repeat for the next book. Especially since we know the Rite took a toll on Gwyn, she went back to the library, wasn’t even sure she would make it to Nessian’s mating ceremony. This doesn’t give the protagonist of the next book to me. Or "I thought it was pretty obvious"

Elain’s healing journey had started in ACOWAR, she got her friends in ACOWAR. Now is their TIME to do something!! She is next. 

Closing thoughts on what I think would happen based off each ship happening: 

If elriel happens = new sjm couple dynamic/interesting plot. Fresh sjm protagonist that is unlike sjm's others + we don’t ignore all the foreshadowing and hints. We follow the love triangle we set up in the og trilogy + finally get a rejected mating bond. And instead of warrior training we might get spy training and instead of physical power (as far as we know) we get something more mental. Again this is very new for sjm + there’s a lot to Elain’s power that we don’t know and since Azriel was the one who found out what she was, I think it would make more sense for him to know how to help her. Imagine the sexual tension during training..yes please. I hope sjm doesn’t rob me. Elain is really mysterious, we got Nesta’s inner thoughts before her book but we still haven't gotten a peep about Elain’s inner thoughts and I’m just dying to know more. AND THE STAKES!

1) Rhys forbidding Azriel from Elain, 2) Elain’s mating bond,3) Azriel’s self doubt and how he doesn’t think he’s good enough. 4) The blood duel and the political mess we could get into. (Lucien probs won't but what if Beron would, the breeding potential, A seer must be a powerful thing she can see things others can't and I think that’s valuable. If Eris thought Nesta was valuable as cauldron made and there was no potential there, so The Autumn court probably feels even more entitled to Elain) We have high inner and outer stakes. I have a feeling SJM will fumble all this potential but a girl can dream 

If elucien happens = another successful mating bond + “enemies”  to lovers sort of but they won’t ever be mean to each other so maybe not enemies, just dislike and awkwardness to friends to lovers?  We ignore the hints about a rejected bond and in mating bonds we trust. We also ignore all the elriel hints, and their mutual feelings. We follow the love triangle set up in the og trilogy. I don’t think Lucien could train her in anything? Maybe self defense, Idk Sarah could pull something, but I don’t see Elain leaving her circle of friends but neither do I see Lucien settling in the night court and leaving his own friends. There are no stakes but Elain’s and Lucien’s awkwardness around each other + Elain’s feelings for Azriel. Elain’s and Lucien’s plot connects though so at least there’s that, SJM could ship them off on a mission together and make them get closer. Forced proximity sort of thing. 

If gwynriel happens then = we lost the whole plot, ignored the foreshadowing and hints found in the actual book. Mentor to lovers, civil with each other. Azriel has to move on from Elain first though and that could be icky. Healing journey, more Valkyries training. So we pick up from where we left off in acosf, and we’d see Azriel trying to get her to come out of the Library, or he goes to visit her there until she agrees to come out again. Maybe if Gwyn is a lightsinger then idk more training with Azriel? Again, no stakes but Gwyn’s trauma and Azriel’s self doubt oh and also his feelings for Elain. But that’s it, Gwyn as of now does not connect to the overall plot with the troves (she’s not made therefore she can’t use them) or koschei. So I don’t see us making her go on a mission like that. I’ve seen a lot of gwynriles saying Gwyn has spy potential idk where, but she could barely keep a secret for Nesta so I highly doubt she’d be keeping secrets for the IC. 

Ps: the original koschei plot is 3 sisters marrying 3 very powerful wizards and like idk 3 sisters 3 brothers…we can have a retelling ya know 

[forerussake]

Many-Coated Mayhem #3

In the wake of coat post #1 and #2 I promised I had more still, and I do, because lo and behold: Wu Xie is not the only one in TSF who wears nice coats. There are SO MANY nice coats in this show. Here's some of my personal favourites:

Coat 24

I've mentioned her before! One of the most glorious coats in this many-coated show: Pangzi's floofy, leather-and-fur wintercoat. He starts wearing this at the Retreat in episode 9, and he wears it for some time after that.

It's beautiful and amazing and gorgeous and it looks spectacular on him, and I WANT IT. (Or maybe I just want him to hug me?)

Coat 25

This is the robey coaty situation Xiaoge wears in the flashbacks of him visiting the Yinshaluo Shrine in episodes 20-21. It has furr lining the hood, and nice patches on the elbows and a red belt/sash to secure it around his waist.

It looks soft in a way his modern-day attire rarely does and it's an allround LOOK. Especially when paired with his fingerless gloves.

Coat 26

It's Yinshaluo and Second Bronze Door trip winter coat time!

First up: Zhang Haike. I grabbed this shot from episode 31, when he goes to the Spiritual Retreat to take on the position of Deren, because most of the other scenes it appears in were either too dark, too muted in colour, too snowy, or too fast-paced to get a decent screenshot at 720p, and maybe also because I only decided to include it at all when I realized by the end that I had nothing yet for ZHK for this post and I thought that was a little bit sad. He does have nice fashion, but rarely did this show allow me to screenshot it.

Anyway, it's grey and darker grey, and it's exactly the kind of coat you'd expect this brooding old man to wear on his secret missions into the mountains.

Coat 27

Zhang Haixing's white wintercoat! It's a white wintercoat. It looks good on her. She's ready to go skiing with the girls. Idk what else to say about it. It has furr and pockets!

She manages to keep it clean for a surprisingly long time... until she doesn't anymore.

Coat 28

THE MOMENT WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR! It's Feng's incredibly in character and on point bright orange wintercoat. Just look at it, isn't it amazing? (See also ZHK in the only other clear shot I managed to get of his grey coat.)

Anyway, Feng's fashion sense has been on point for the whole show, and he proves it again by pairing this orange monstrosity with a babyblue jumpsuit, which you can see here as he is standing there thinking 'well, damn, if it isn't the consequences to my own actions...' Can you tell I have come to love him deeply as the show went on?

Feng is also clearly the only person in this godforsaken party who wants to be saved should an avalanche occur, wearing a bright colour that will not camouflage him right into the backdrop of the mountain, a strategy that is almost undone in the first episode that all of these coats appear in, when they collectively decide to take them all off.

So, kids, what have we learned from episode 21? Keep your plot-relevant coats on!

Coat 29

This is baby!Zhang Haixing's incredible blue trenchcoat. She wears this in the sad flashback in episode 27.

Look, I don't have anything to say about this other than OMG LOOK AT HER SHE IS SO PRETTY. It deserves to be said okay.

"Coat" 30

Speaking of pretty, remember how I said I love Feng? Because I love him. He is ridiculous, a surprisingly compelling character despite also being this DMBJ installment's #1 resident white guy, and a walking model. Which brings me to: his blue robes from episode 28 at the Yinshaluo village.

"But Eru," you say, "none of these shots actually show his outfit." And yeah, I couldn't get a good shot of it, sorry, but it looks good okay. Trust me. These pictures of him being stupidly pretty and apparently a horse-whisperer will just have to suffice.

Coat 31

This is ridiculous leather coat Zhang Haixing wears when she goes to visit her big brother at the Spiritual Retreat in episode 31.

This monstrosity with its straps and lines and incredibly not functional off-the-shoulder slab of furr should not be allowed to look good on anyone and yet somehow she makes it work. Kudos ma'am. Also I am so sorry that your brother didn't hug you. He should've fucking hugged you, the absolute bastard. You deserved that much from him. Alas it wasn't meant to be.

Coat 32

Now we are getting towards the end. I've shown you in coat post #1 what Wu Xie wears on the trip to Yucun in episode 32. Now it's Pangzi's turn:

He wears something that is maybe technically also a shirt, but it's got a green pattern and I don't care I just wanted you to see him once more. Look at him. Isn't your heart healed now? I thought as much.

Coat 33

Xiaoge's Blue Coat™️ Is it really THE blue coat? Is this the one Wu Xie nabs off the statue and wears in a thematically meaningful way for a couple episodes? Is it THE blue coat returned to its rightful owner??? I don't know. The show doesn't allow me to look at it too closely. But it may well be.

I'm choosing to interpret it as such. If you want a closer look: see the final screenshot in this post, and decide for yourself.

Coat 34

Another Xiaoge coat. This the black one he wears on the mountain hike where they find the fisherman, and also when he steals a chicken from their poor neighbour. Oopsie.

Is it a coat? Is it a vest? Does it really matter? He looks soft and warm and happy, and isn't that all we ever wanted for him? The black is a nice return to his roots, though I personally have LOVED the visual shift to blue as his primary coat colour since Reboot came out.

I know for a fact he wears multiple different blue coats during the show, and maybe one day I will piece together another post in which I try to figure out how many different blue Xiaoge coats show up in this show.

For now though, I am leaving you with the Iron Triangle in Yucun, alive and happy and together. Who knows what (coats) the future still has in stall for them? (Sssst, don't tell them yet.)

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

WICKED SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay so I’ve never seen the stage musical nor read the books so maybe I’m completely wrong about this and if so, I apologize in advance, but like, can we talk about Wicked for a second? Specifically its racism metaphor? This is gonna be a bit long, I apologize! 😅

So, don’t get me wrong, I love this movie and I think it’s a really visually and musically stunning masterpiece BUT!!

I have a bit of a problem with the fact that it’s a story about racism/fascism except that it’s animals that are victims of it when there was sooo much potential with the idea of having a race of green-skinned people with magical abilities that Elphaba could have been a part of (instead of the whole cheating and green elixir thing).

I usually dislike stories like this where authors create fictional peoples/beings being victims of oppression instead of writing about actual characters of the global majority, but it’s generally because 1. The characters in question are played by White people (cf. Hunger Games, Carnival Row). 2. The reason why they’re marginalized is usually understandable (cf. Zootopia), like it’s usually because they were actually murderous a long time ago or because they tried to harm people in some way. And 3. The authors of those stories are usually White people (but there are always exceptions) who don’t understand how racism, colonialism and oppression work and tend to romanticize those things for their Forbidden Love Stories or whatever and also because they see real people’s oppression as entertainment or writing prompts.

But here for once I thought it was pretty well-written. It’s very clearly established that the victims of the system are being marginalized due to the lies that have been spread about them and the blame that has been unfairly placed on them for the Ozians’ problems. I just think it would have been better if the animals had been replaced by green-skinned people. I know, I know! It’s been done so many times but bare with me PLEASE!

Imagine if Elphaba hadn’t been the only green-skinned woman in the land of Oz and she was actually part of a race of green-skinned people who used to have magical powers, have been stripped of them and are now being blamed for the issues in the country? The reason why they no longer have magical powers is because Ozians stole their magic because they believed that the green-skinned people were dangerous (which was of course completely false because they were always benevolent but the people behind their oppression have always lied about them). It would have been a really nice metaphor of colonialism (the colonizers taking all the resources from the people they’ve colonized, demonizing them and trying to strip them of their humanity, dignity and identity)!

And so for centuries they thought that the green-skinned people no longer had any magic until this green woman with magical powers shows up and shakes up the system! I was talking about this with a friend who said that all of this would have not been very “subtle” and I was like yeah?? I mean, why would you be subtle for a story about fascism? Even if it’s fantasy racism, the point is to make people think, not purely entertain them (unless you’re one of those bored White authors who don’t have enough imagination ugh… Reminds me of the video where a white woman talks about her book and gleefully mentions how it was about forced depopulation and residential schools… Like, she was literally smiling while talking about it)

With a race of green-skinned people with magic especially, I’m reminded of how during colonization, European people thought African people were “evil” and were practicing sorcery and worshiping demons because they didn’t understand their religions nor wanted to (and thus the term “Black Magic” was created)! It would have been interesting to explore this in the movie!

And how cool would it have been to reveal that not only are the Wizard and his sidekicks impostors but the green-skinned people were actually the original Ozians before the colonizers took over, which is why Elphaba was able to read the ancient language of the Grimory and use its magic and not the wizard? I think that if they had just replaced the animal characters with green-skinned people, the movie would have been the exact same if not better or even perfect and it would have made more sense to see Elphaba finding her people at Shiz for a while before having to become the Witch of the West because of the wizard’s shenanigans.

In my opinion, stories about fantasy racism aren’t inherently bad, it just depends on the way they’re written and the Wicked franchise was a missed opportunity… Unless I’m completely wrong and Part 2 is exactly about all of this lol! I don’t know anything about Part 2 but I have a feeling it could be something close to this, so maybe I’ll end up looking like a complete fool but I just really needed to get all of this out of my chest! 😂

Hey sorry I left your ask in her for ten days!!! I have been really busy with caring for my elderly parents and taking them to appointments and work ofc.

So ok I LOVE your alternate version of Wicked!!! And I agree it would have been much better. But I really don't think that part 2 is going that way sorry. I'm currently rereading the book and while its got really great characterization and vivid imagery you're right it misses a big opportunity.

That's the problem with lots of white people denying that there is a racism problem in fandom though. Like stories about colonization/oppressive stories are compelling but white people tell them and warp them to make a white person the savior instead of the oppressor. I think that's why I love star trek so much tbh. Like yeah its got its problems but they continue to push the envelope with putting poc in the spotlight. Which is vastly different from star wars because it only imagines white people as the chosen ones or the saviors.

Sorry about the tangent!!!

Please come by and talk to us some more! I haven't seen wicked in theaters and i don't think I'm going to be able to. (p broke right now lol). But I am rereading the book and its reminding me that although this book blew me away 20+ years ago now its evident that they missed a golden opportunity to really talk about racism/colonization/oppressive systems properly.

mod ali

[lunainfortuna]

I just saw elriels post evidence that sjm set up the spinoffs in acofas and now I'm a little worried. I had never seen this evidence before and thought it was just something elriels said. I always was told acofas is just a holiday novella that isn't really important plot wise. Now I don't know what to think. I'm a bit new to acotar and I love gwynriel more than anything. I started reading acosf because of gwynriel and now I'm freaking out a little. I do not want to read about elriel whatsoever. What do you think about this? Is this legit that acofas set up the spinoffs? I don't understand why sjm makes elain interact with az like they do in acofas if she then made gwyn his mate and since elain already has a mate. And why was gwyn not in acosaf if acofas set up the next books? Sorry, im just a little worried now. Maybe this is old news and not a big deal. Gwynriel is my favorite ship of all time and I want their book so bad.

First of all, don’t worry about sending me this message!

I believe we’ve all had moments of doubt, hesitation, and nervousness – that’s part of being a fan. We create expectations, and just the possibility of them not coming true can be scary.

Now, addressing your concern…

Over the years, Sarah has said many things about her books. I’m not exactly sure which evidence you’re referring to, but looking at the bigger picture, I get it.

Yes, it’s possible that she outlined the spinoffs in ACOFAS. But don’t worry – that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be Elriel.

On the contrary, if we think about ACOFAS, three things stand out: 1. Nesta and Cassian (ACOSF) 2. Azriel 3. Elain

See, even though some people insist on the romantic undertone between Elriel in ACOFAS, the book addresses them separately.

For example, we have a personal issue about Azriel being brought up when Rhysand mentions his past traumas. Then, we have a question about Elain (separate from Azriel) when she asks about becoming human again.

The two don’t share interactions that connect them to each other, like Nesta and Cassian did. But there’s clearly an indication that both characters have stories to tell.

From this evidence alone, we can already imagine the spinoffs. However, nothing is conclusive, and it’s still a very preliminary thought.

This leads us to what came next: ACOSF and all the interviews about the book.

In ACOSF, we could have had a bigger focus on Elain. However, she’s almost a ghost – only mentioned by Nesta in relation to their relationship. Nothing more. Nothing else. Elain in ACOSF serves as a supporting character for Nesta’s journey.

Azriel, on the other hand, gets a special focus and begins to build a journey that gives him agency. Alongside him (and I’d argue even more than him) is Gwyn, who becomes the most prominent new character in the book.

This becomes even more evident in the bonus chapter. The chapter was from Azriel’s perspective, and the author created a perfect parallel between what would be wrong with him and Elain, and what feels right with him and Gwyn.

In other words, this suggests that among the stories Sarah wants to tell, Azriel’s will probably come first.

Beyond ACOSF, we can also point to interviews where she talks about Azriel and talks about what readers think of him.

After ACOSF, we also have HOFAS, which, honestly, only confirmed all our suspicions. Nesta and AZRIEL were the central characters in that story. There are MANY questions about Azriel in the book. It’s Azriel (not Elain) who gets the final line of an extra chapter. It’s all about him.

How can I believe that Elain, an Archeron sister, will share a story with him when she’s been absent from the books? How can I believe she’s the next protagonist when there’s not enough development for her yet?

How can I believe in Elriel when multiple books point in a different direction?

You say you don’t understand why Sarah writes Azriel interacting with Elain the way he does. I get it! But my honest opinion? She’s telling us: it’s not me! They don’t belong together!

Trust the process, dear anon. ♥

[aardvaark]

the librarians "and the christmas thief" (s4e3) watch through:

patron saint of thieves (ie st nick... ie santa), leverage deja vu!

this has some kath & kim vibes - not sure if that’s intentional from the US writers but i hope it is. you might know kath & kim from this meme:

"did you just say - mum?" maybe they’re already working out what he means, but surely for like one second cassandra was thinking "what did you just call me?!?"

okay woah too many hilarious things just happened at once -

this exchange (plus them all running around the table lmaooo):

ezekiel: "they're my family, i'll sort it out, please!" cassandra: "i thought WE were your family!" ezekiel: "you’re a different sort of family. i like you guys!"

^ but re: the above, i love the fact cassandra's offended that he has another family... you know, the family he grew up with. which does make sense from her pov because both cassie & jacob very much have difficult relationships with their own relatives & the library is like their "main" family. she seems to have assumed it was the same way for ezekiel (after all, he's clearly not talked much about his mum & sisters). so she feels confused & a little betrayed even though all he's done is like. have a mother. lol. very much not his fault but i get why she's a bit upset

also love cassandra's incredibly convincing lie to eve, "i found it. the bottle opener. was in the bottle opener drawer. with the other bottle openers".

baird saying "bye, kids" LMAOOO.

ezekiel kissing cassandra on the lips (to which she looks grossed out lol) & about to do the same to jacob before getting pushed away

-AND lastly, ezekiel saying his mum lives just outside sydney & cassandra goes "that explains the accent". did you think he was just talking like that for fun

CASSIES HAIR

jacob knowing about thankstaking day for some reason??

cassandra giving ezekiel's mum a disturbed stare while she discusses stealing christmas presents, but also introducing herself politely & hugging her lol.

plot of the grinch

thank god for cassie. the one who noticed the globe was missing, now the one noticing the globe is on fire

thief worldbuilding. i feel like a lot of this is like the stuff they would've joked about behind the scenes in leverage ("crime world") but couldn't really add to a show that is mostly grounded in real life stuff. also i remember a society of thieves or something being mentioned much earlier on in this show, when representatives from the library and dragons and the fae etc all met up that one time. for some reason thieves are included in magical society lol.

wait if they frame that guy for stealing here, won't he get liquidated?? hope that blew over

its cool that we've seen the same show runners pick two very different sets of laser-avoidance styles for their thief characters lol. parker (leverage) doing the gymnastics type vs ezekiel basically dancing. both chosen to fit the characters im assuming (or in parkers case, to fit what she would have been trained by archie to do - a very classic thief style, according to tv at least lol).

LOL "ezekiel jones? THE ezekiel jones?" exactly like "parker? THE parker?"

well thats why thieves are in magical society ig! santas brother is canonically running the bank of thieves. okay

ezekiel was literally robin hood. and i like that he knows he's lucky and supports people who just didn't have that luck. also him talking about stealing as an art (which he's alluded to before), he really does simply have a passion.

"it has been my experience that behind every egotistical blowhard, there is a petulant, scared little boy"

ezekiel ultimately saying that his mum didnt just teach him greed but also very much generosity & kindness <3 idk family is complicated, people are complicated.

LMAO my very first thought was "wasn't it facing the other way?"

[greenjudy]

Rook notes, part 6

A few non-spoilery bits on top, a few spoilery ones on the bottom.

-I can't talk about the ending yet. Thoughts about Solas forthcoming. Enough to say that All New, Faded for Her is a cornerstone of his whole story.

-I've mentioned it before, but the whole final act was outstanding, better by far than Inquisition's base game ending, and close to, perhaps even surpassing, Trespasser.

-Rook 2 (with his fake Dalish tattoo and all) fell in love with Bellara immediately. He is gooning and redecorated everything with Dalish motifs.

-I expect to replay this numerous times; I haven't even romanced Neve or Emmerich yet. I think I really love this game. Will there be fanfic? There may be fanfic.

-That said, a few beefs.

1: Harding: I feel her Veilguard vibe isn't quite right. For one thing, she wasn't this sweet in Inquisition. She had an almost unsettling calm under pressure, and a little bite. Even her speaking voice was a little lower. But the real issue is this: Harding would have been the perfect protagonist for Veilguard. Don't get me wrong, I love Rook. Love them! But I literally cannot think of a better person to center the conflict with Solas. So I beef at the lost opportunity that turned her into a kind, warm, sweet companion instead of the hero. Wish we lived in a world where folks would embrace a trip-A game led by a female Dwarven protagonist.

2: I miss the Inquisition crafting system. I like the glamor thing where you can apply appearances to armor and weapons; I like many of the items. But I really miss building armor that I like, coloring it and giving it a name, like "Love and War" or "Little Black Number."

3: Some oddities and inconsistencies could have been so easily addressed with a few additional lines of dialogue. I may do a separate post about this.

4: While I am not interested in the ability to abuse the companions, I do sometimes wish the styles expressed in the dialogue wheel were a little more sharply delineated. Some edges got filed down there. I will continue to experiment and report back.

5: I like the 'angry,' 'sad' and 'scared' options (especially the latter for some reason), but I heartily wish we could have had some extremely determined folks drive home for the money people that some of the feelings we can feel about this will not fit into those categories. It may be a failing of the dialogue wheel, but it might have been possible to have a "I have very complex feelings about this" dialogue option, maybe with an icon of someone holding their head in their hands?

And now a few spoilery thoughts:

-As a Tevinter elf Shadow Dragon, I was delighted to get a whole-ass conversation with Tarquin, Viper's right hand and paramour, about my background, how janky it was to be an elf in Minrathous, and generally mutually vibing as scions of military families. Hearing the Mercars get mentioned as supporters of the anti-slavery movement! Good, deep, crunchy, and connecting as well as any of those conversations did in Inquisition.

-Emmerich really has nothing to say about Rook rampaging through the Necropolis raiding chests and bashing funerary urns????? Here's an example where a few lines of dialogue would have been welcome. Make it make sense, Bioware.

-People are bitching about the fact that a few of the Crow families are clearly evolving into more well-rounded problem-solving bodies. They are starting to add to their toolkit and broaden their vision. This is not actually a far-fetched outcome.

-Rook 2 (Ren Mercar) saved Minrathous, and for me there is really no contest; what happens to Treviso is indescribable. (Side note: I cannot imagine how Lucanis could ever, ever, ever romance a Rook who didn't come to help his city. I am happy with the lopsided romance situation with the two harden-able characters.) Here is another example of how the game basically locks you out of your own house and leaves you out in the snow (appreciative) as you wander through these absolutely ravaged neighborhoods. It will not stop being terrible in Treviso. It may never stop being terrible in Treviso, ever again.

OK. Rook out, till next time.

[ivysangel]

wally’s death was the first character death that i ever experienced from a character that i LOVED. like i was crushed and i cried so hard my mom thought someone actually died so i understand your pain!! and when they did the kind of flashback thing in season 3 where dick was hallucinating about being robin with the team and wally was back while fighting on granny goodness’s ship??? the writers were SICK for that!!

also dinah mentioning the sanctuary part at the end of season 4 is supposed to be how wally comes back but i don’t see how cause in the comics he’s stuck in the speedforce but the writers say there is no speedforce?? which why not??

the time jump was the dumbest thing i’ve ever seen cause why??? we missed tula joining the team and then dying, we missed kaldur discovering who his real father is and going to the light’s side (even if it was just undercover), we missed dick becoming nightwing, and we missed ALL of jason. don’t get me wrong cause i love tim and i wanted to see him as robin too but jason is such an important part of tim and dick’s stories so what gives??

and the writers are especially sick for how they did wally and artemis!! cause why tease us with them for the whole season, finally give us spitfire in the last episode of season 1, then have their ENTIRE relationship off screen, and then they kill wally?? we really got no time with them!! like spitfire is arguably the best couple on the show even if the writers clearly do favor connor and m’gann. especially m’gann and i love her but why was dick barely in season 4???

i don't think i cried when wally died bc i'm p sure i spoiled it for myself but i was still GUTTED. me and one of my friends who also watched yj have talked about it so many times. she actually stopped after he died and said she wouldn't continue the show unless they brought him back. i think dc knows what young justice fans want i just don't think they gaf bc that have quite literally not implemented a single thing that fans have REALLY asked for. you'll say "we want wally back!!" and they'll be like "ohhh okay let's remind everyone that he's dead and literally nobodies truly recovered!!!"

also, once again, FUCK that five year time jump. the young justice writers' room utilized the FUCK out of time jumps like every season has at least one or two??? mid-season they'll be like "1 year later" WHAT??? but like i said, nothing is worse than that five year time jump between s1 and s2 because five years is such a long time, especially because the team were practically babies at the beginning. they had so much potential and then the show just jumped to them as adults and a whole new team.

i also fully hate that they introduced rocket in the second to last episode or smth and pretty much benched her as a superhero for the entire rest of the show, i do not understand that decision AT ALL.

and yes, the fourth season being advertised as a season about the og team only for it to be so heavily m'gann and conner centric was so…i did enjoy that we finally got some real zatanna screen time but ugh god i wish it was with the team. like i don't really know how to explain it or if this even makes sense, but even though the show is about a team i feel like we barely get to see the team do actual team stuff like they used to. it feels like a lot of solo plotlines that happen to be going on in the same show with coincidental correlation.

also i think it might've been season 4? maybe 3? but WAY TOO MANY CUTS TO VANDAL SAVAGE'S LIFE STORY. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK.

[tarajenkins]

It's that time again

Time to make a massive post for my thoughts on the Lord Vauthry side of the new Encyclopaedia 3! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Spoiler alert: they aren't positive at all, lmao As it turns out, there is a convenient cover-our-ass disclaimer right off that this book is diegetic. The information in it is supposed to have been gleaned from the Scions. The Scions who, especially in the case of Eulmore's ~dark secrets~, would know jack shit about fuck all.

Admittedly, Hydaelyn should've known at least some of this through the death of her last Oracle, but for whatever reason it slipped her mind to tell us any of it in-game. Whoops!

Or maybe she was relying on that child to be the stopgap against the Rejoining happening too soon, like Selch. She could've at least given credit where it was due, if so. >:T

Twitter had a huge pearl-clutching shitfit the other day about that Oracle's death, which boiled down to "EW GROSS FATTY BEAT A CHILD TO DEATH OMG". The OP showed a screenshot of the page which mentions that Vauthry attacked the Oracle after having a nightmare that she would kill him. But they chose not to link the FIRST part for whatever reason, where it stated the Oracle in question had been fighting Sin Eaters alongside Ran'jit before Vauthry was even born. So unless this Oracle was an infant slayer of Sin Eaters, Vauthry was the child in that scenario--at age TWELVE. A twelve-year-old somehow defeated Hydaelyn's avatar, who was a skilled fighter trained by Ran'jit himself. (Ran'jit was a Master Assassin at five years old, btw. No, really.)

That said, the fanbase in that post naturally bought the OP's failure to math the way Estinien buys his hair ties: like suckers. Players were parroting the misinformation via solo posts and showing their entire ass on fatphobia in this character's tag all day. And, of course, where the fandom forgives and forgets the atrocities of almost every other character, people suddenly seemed very invested in making Vauthry enjoyers EXPLAIN THEMSELVES because this character did THIS.

When that was called out for the glaring hypocrisy, one poster replied it's just that "people are shocked at child abuse suddenly being mentioned and relevant."

Except child abuse has ALWAYS been mentioned and relevant in this game. It also applies to Vauthry himself. Emet-Selch essentially killed Vauthry before he was even born, dooming an infant to a life of madness and violence by fusing the baby with a Lightwarden. His father groomed him on lies for a power grab, Ascians further manipulated him in his madness to raise the Virtues, Ascend Gaia's parents, and who knows what else. What would you call that, if not abuse? Thank Emet-Selch for the previous Oracle being murdered. That wasn't going to happen with a 12-year-old who wasn't corrupted by a Lightwarden.

But, let's be real. All the derision of the character's weight during that Twitstorm made it extra obvious what makes him ~problematic~ to them. For their faves, it's "it's just fiction uwu" or the classic ~moral relativism~. For Vauthry, it's rabid foaming because it's clearly a Moral Failing to enjoy THAT character, and we who do must be harassed for it! Case in point, the Twitter OP even pulled out the old uwu ~at least I'm not a ~Vauthry shipper uwu" chestnut, I kid you not. At least, rabid foaming on behalf of vidya game children everywhere until I asked if it was finally time to discuss how many pixel children were murdered by the Rejoinings or Garlean occupation, for a start. Kids freezing in the Brume, etc. Kids made monsters by corrupting them in the womb. You know. A Tuesday. Crickets, then.

"I can't imagine Vauthry ever being a child", someone else posted.

They showed him as a baby in his mother's arms, in the Echo flashback. It's not hard. But I guess it's easier to dehumanize a fat character than it is to think a little.

If anyone else wants to be pissed at me saying all this as they were years ago, I really, really can't be arsed to care. It's rare NOT to see this character's fatness derided in just about any discussion of him. It sure was in his Twitter tags the other day. And, well. Every day. If you want to prove me wrong, though, confront that behavior when you see it, make shutting it down the norm, instead of whining how I'm "too rude" and so that invalidates my points somehow. No shit I'm rude when this "great community" has all the wit of bullies on a playground. Go tone police them instead, maybe.

ANYWAY

On the plus side, some of this new sorta-lore does seem to still back up some of my original in-game theories, but he was already twisted by the corruption from birth. There's no denying that anymore at least, no more hearing stuff from the fanbase like "uwu Emet-Selch gave him a GIFT, Vauthry just abused it uwu". (Who am I kidding, the last part will still happen.) Also, since the actual writers of this book don't stand behind anything written in it, I can still give him the happy ending in AUville that he should have had canonly. ⸜( ˙˘˙)⸝ ♡

What the purpose of this book is when nothing in it is concrete, I have no idea. But if Square can't back off their unimaginative fatphobia, can they at LEAST make Eulmore make sense?

NOPE ( ᐛ )b

Vauthry's father was named Veronth Mudthane, and in this retcon they imply he took more than a minute to decide that allowing a rando to corrupt his baby without asking his wife first was a swell deal. "The Scions" should've at least known the Echo shown in-game just…completely refutes that. But this book also has a blurb for Anogg but shows a portrait of her brother Konogg, so I honestly have to wonder if "The Scions" even played this game.

Vauthry's mother, as per usual, is not given a name or otherwise addressed at all. Because reasons.

"A euphoric Veronth went on to spoil his offspring in extravagant fashion, showering this "new god" with adoration bordering on worship. Such treatment would warp any child's mind, and Vauthry was no exception: he grew up willful, wanton, and possessed of an awful temper."

No exceptions except: Alphinaud, Alisaie, Nanamo, the fandom darlings of Ishgard (arguably excluding Emmanellain but for some reason he always gets a free pass), Hildibrand, Sark Malark, I'm sure I am forgetting some but you get the idea! There's only one difference, I wonder what it could be--

reads book's description of Vauthry's "corpulent chest"

--ah, right. The shitty tropes barely disguised as storytelling. Double standards! It's not just for jackasses in the fanbase anymore! "The Scions" are trying to lay this on "spoiling", when the child was fused with a Lightwarden. Ask Titania how that went for them.

The book goes on to say Vauthry murdered both of his parents at age nine in a fit of temper. You read that right: age nine. With witnesses. Somehow. They go on to mention the witnesses may have been okay with it perhaps because of "a growing mastery over his Lightwarden powers of domination". You know, those powers of domination that didn't exist in-game when Alphinaud chastised the Eulmorans for willfully ignoring the plight of the rest of the world. Those powers of domination that, when they finally were exerted in-game, resulted in the Eulmorans staggering around like drunks, muttering and supremely useless.

In-game, Vauthry wasn't "dominating" anything until he sprouted meatwings and fled to Gulg. Otherwise, Tristol would never have been able to ask to leave? Alphinaud would've been affected, even if the WoL was shielded by the Blessing of Light. Kai-Shirr would have chopped his arm off gladly. The Eulmorans would be blameless for everything Alphinaud and the narrative blamed them for.

In any case, both in this book and in-game, the writers completely gutted their own narrative of Vauthry and/or Eulmore being symbolic of All Things Bad. It's pretty impressive. Vauthry was corrupted by a Lightwarden, like Titania; his mind and behavior were compromised by this from birth. And if he DID control the Eulmorans the whole time, then they had no free will, either.

The book claims Vauthry used Ascension as a cruel game and delighted in ~revealing the truth~ to his victims as they became Sin Eaters. But they never explained why there would be a need to hide any truth with this latest spin on the dumpster fire that is the Eulmore arc.

In-game, there were rules to even request Ascension of him, and it was limited to and at the discretion of the formerly rich free citizenry. Workers could be granted it, but only if their patron vouched for them. The free citizens apparently had to wait until they were at their natural end, as per the Warbler's patron. The random disappearance of so many people from the stagnant population of that tower over the years would cause a panic by any stretch of the imagination. Word would get out, because workers on the inside were shown to be able to visit loved ones in Gate Town. Only allowing Ascension at the natural end of life would cover all that part up, except Vauthry was only 29 years old. The opportunities for Ascension: The Game would've been about as often as Minfilias spawned in that one century. (Which, according to the game, was totally hundreds on hundreds of Minfilias!) Either way makes zero good sense. The convoluted lengths they went through for the sake of these cheap fatphobic tropes is staggering, I s2g.

Meol still doesn't make sense, either. They doubled down on the "fat character eats people" trope in the book, but tbh I've come to expect unoriginality from anything directed by Naoki "Diversity would be unrealistic in my giant magic summon fantasy game" Yoshida.

Sin Eaters are said to have been found in cages next to a butcher table sort of setup, even though in-game, Sin Eaters have no bones, blood, or meat. In fact, the sparklies they dissapate into upon death are rather important to the narrative, as that is what turns people into new Sin Eaters. Meol, you know, that dish which was still entirely optional, and so really contradictory to using it as some master plan to MC the populace.

TL;DR: This is what happens when you phone in lazy tropes instead of a story for a last-minute arc and call it a day. Imagine what we could've had if they'd done some actual thoughtful writing. Also TL;DR:

Mood, Your Lordship

[ineffableigh]

Timeline of Suspicious Events Brain Dump - PART 3

You know the drill at this point. Off we goooo! [Part 1][Part 2]

"Maggie and Nina are depending on me!" Azi's really drunk his own Kool-aid at this point, or he's putting on a complicated show to pretend this is a serious endeavor. Giving away a valuable book just to trick Heaven? Something's really not adding up.

Another weird noise for the logs: A bassy 'whoosh/boom' noise right after Mutt says he has anniversary dinner with his beloved spouse and the camera pans to Crowley. Not sure it means anything, but it did stand out to me lol.

Something that stands out to me a lot as well, assuming it was done deliberately (I don't know the actor) - Mutt seems to be having an awfully hard time handling the cards he's currently sorting. Like, after he says 'no' at first, I cannot figure out what he's trying to do with his right hand.

Also of note: The mysterious Bird Box is nowhere to be seen in the shop, even though MANY of the set items are identical to the 1941 scene. Where that bird at??

"Under no circumstances can I there be for tonight." ... what? This has to be on purpose, right? I'm digging, I know, but that's what we do here lol.

Big sad empty warehouse for the Demon Legions. Why on earth (or in Hell) is Hell so short staffed? Where them demons at?

DANGER...osity!

"I can only be there 'til 7" so that's a half hour window for the meeting, at least for Justine. Fair, she can only handle so much of Azi's painful French lol.

The metal barrier just outside the cafe is... awfully snake-y isn't it?

"Looking where the furniture isn't..." is definitely going to be VERY important. Crowley absolutely knows something about losing AND regaining memories and it's been telegraphed all season.

Michael has eye earrings! This feels like a huge tie-in with Maggie's all seeing eye necklace.

Skimming through the rest since I've gone through it multiple times through other posts, but quick takeaways include...

Ms Cheng looking at the Pub before she goes in. Suspicious given we know that's the Hellevator, but have no reason to believe she'd be looking for someone else coming from that direction as the cafe AND record store are the other way.

Mr Brown has to be suspicious because we HEAR him getting mulched by demons when he's taken, but he survives? WEIRD.

Maggie's main character moment as I mentioned in my 'Thoughts about Maggie' post.

Azi seems very genuine when explaining the Coffee Shop Love Plot to Nina, so maybe he really did believe he was helping. I don't get why they steamrolled past her already having a partner, both the lads knew it. It's weird for that much.

Maggie blankly standing by the open window in range of trash is weird, especially since she like Activates and Becomes Brave right after.

I do wonder... how does Shax know Maggie couldn't pay the rent? That seems awfully specific. Like REALLY specific.

Throne, Dominion or Higher Crowley - what a way to drop that info! That moment hits so hard lol.

"Institutional Problem" I wonder if we'll learn more about The Fall next season. What was it that actually triggered it (in this universe)?

I love that the archangels clearly interact with each other SO LITTLE that no one even knows if Gabriel actually has his own bloody desk lol. Talk about isolation.

Huh. I wonder why Shax didn't get discorporated by the Exploding Halo...

You know who else is wearing a damn turtleneck? SARAQUAEL. OOH. COVERT AGENT? HMMMM

No one looked at the damn box, I still can't believe it. Everyone was so busy Being In A Story that they didn't think of it lol.

Analysis of the last chunk of the episode has been done to death, so I'll finish by underlining that it's SO awfully convenient that Maggie INSISTED that she and Nina talk to "them" while Aziraphale was waylaid by the Metatron.

In fact, it's Very Fortunate that the Metatron made a point of going and sitting at JUSTINE'S CAFE out of sight of the bookshop AND Nina's Cafe. Otherwise Nina might have been like hey you, get in on this chat! Like he knew that was the plan...

Plus the fact that they do that even though Justine's cafe is clearly CLOSED. I doubt she'd be chill with that so I guess she's not around.

Anyway that's enough so here's the TLDR:

The Metatron pretty much just LETS Gabriel escape, knowing that the Archangels will go down and muddle about trying to investigate.

We still don't know why Michael thought they had the right to strike people from the Book of Life. The Metatron seems to think that's out of the question, so where did that idea come from in the first place? It was a major driver of the early plot this season.

It seems convenient that Maggie cried about Nina RIGHT before the Angels arrived to inspect the Jimbriel miracle, and then RIGHT AFTER THAT, Mr Brown (of Brown's World of Carpets) shows up to set up the venue. That alone, all happening in the span of maybe 15 minutes, is a LOT.

It really feels like much of the plot was specifically orchestrated to keep Aziraphale and Crowley apart and NOT TALKING to each other. They keep hiding shit from each other to protect each other, but just hamstring themselves.

[xmochaccinox]

Rise Character Analysis: Kendra!

Ch 1: Meet Kendra

Ch 2: Kendra's Major Traits

Ch 3: Kendra's Relationship With Others

Ch 4: Theories

Alright, I'm bored and I wanna do a character analysis on a Rise Character, but seeing as the turtles, April, Splinter, and Cassandra have been done many times, let's target Kendra!

Just so you know, I am not a certified psychologist, but psychology has been my life long interest. I may get things incorrect and this is all my perspective on what's going on. If you have any disagreement, please engage! I would love to hear everyone's thoughts as long as it's done in a respectable manner (as in don't go calling me or others a dumb*ss and stuff)!

Everything is below under the cut due to length

Ch 1: Meet Kendra

Kendra, who is she? Well, she's the leader of the Purple Dragons and is a well known rival (as well as a very popular head canon love potential) of our one and only purple tech turtle, Donnie. What's her end goal? We... actually don't really know. All we know is that she wants to steal a device that can just give her instant access to hack into any computer and we don't know what else

We first see Kendra in The Purple Jacket with her group taken over a part of the highschool's computer room, which gives us a hint towards their specialty. Right away before we even meet her, we see two students behind her, Jeremy, and Jason dealing with nasty wedgies, a classic way of showing that these are the bullies of the school. April even refers to them as "Stuck up jerks who think they're smarter than everyone else"

Some major skills that Kendra (as well as Jeremy and Jason) uses is programming, coding, hacking, and modification. We see this multiple times, but the biggest example has to be The Purple Game when they used a video game and somehow attached a giant robot to it that also has an AI that studied Donnie's gaming style should things go wrong. Oh, and they hacked into Donnie's computer just to gloat

Kendra and the rest of the Purple Dragons appear to mostly use hardware hacking, which is basically hacking into the physical computer, although they do have some knowledge of software hacking as well

I will mention that they appear to have some idea of making drones and such, but not very advanced as seen in Breaking Purple when Kendra complains that their (Jason's) drone isn't good enough for the drone race. So their skills lean more towards hacking and modifying rather than building things (which kinda makes me wonder where they got the giant robot for The Purple Game as well as the security bots from Mind Meld. Maybe it's just the show being a little inconsistent, who knows)

Outside of school, Kendra, Jeremy, and Jason are still trouble makers, but mostly pulls annoying pranks like throwing food into people's mouths who fell asleep in a theater, which is wildly tame compared to the scene right before it where apparently they used actual tasers during laser tag (no seriously, compare that scene with what we see in Operation: Normal)

Ch 2: Kendra's Personality

Kendra is confident

Often we see Kendra present herself in a highly manner. The best example is when she reveals herself in The Purple Game, saying, "We meet again Bootyshaker9000. Or should I call you Othello Von Ryan? Or should I call you Donnie?" and ignores Donnie's comment about being in house arrest to continue to gloat

We also know that Kendra and the other dragons consider themselves smarter than everyone else through April and the fact that even Kendra herself said that she and her group is the "Greatest hacking duo"

Kendra is uncaring

Kendra is confident in her own plans so much so that when things go wrong, she becomes extremely angry and also blames others for it but then quickly bounces back, announcing that she will be back (which kinda makes me think of an old cartoon villain)

Kendra is intelligent

The one thing that can not be denied is her intelligence. She's clearly smart enough to help her teammates with hacking into a system to get a code and knows how to work with software and coding

I will say I think her intelligence seems to lean a little more into Leo smart, where she knows how to manipulate the people around her to get what she wants, but she is able to work on her own if she has to

While actually meeting her, Kendra pretends to not know who April is, even though the latter pointed out that they've known each other since Kindergarten. Another hint shown is later on in the same episode when she willingly leaves Jason and Jeremy behind for the sake of stealing a code from the Nakamura company

Also the race she persuaded Shelldon into participating is apparently potentially deadly. We get this from the scene with Malinowski and Repo Mantis when they talk about drones participating in the race and many ending up as scrap metal and in the actual race when things like saw blades are being used as obstacles

Kendra is charismatic

Once again, this is shown in The Purple Jacket when she tricks Donnie into revealing their technology, only to use their own tech for her own goals

This was shown again in Breaking Purple when Kendra takes advantage of Shelldon while he was at a low point and tricked him into thinking he was part of the team in order to have him participate in a race that would give the winner the Shadow Transmitter

Kendra is sadistic

Kendra tried to destroy Donnie's siblings both through wanting to see them do it to quickly switching it to wanting the joy of seeing Donnie's reaction to her destroying their siblings

Kendra is impatient

The one thing that everything Kendra keeps trying to steal have in common is that they would supposedly get her into any computer instantly. Even though she herself does coding. And she also steals tech (specifically Donnie's tech as well as robbing electronic stores) to get to her goal quicker

Kendra also values her own time a lot. She wants to get things done as quickly as possible. She can be seen interrupting conversations and telling those involved to wrap it up if she feels like her time is being wasted. One example is when she tells Jeremy and Donnie to "Can the bromance" and in a later episode interrupts Jeremy when he tries to explain the AI in the game they made for Donnie

Kendra is irritable

This can go hand in hand with her being impatient as Kendra becomes angry when her patience is running out. Kendra is often seen snapping at someone, using that fear she puts on them to keep them in line. We mostly see this with her and Jason, but I go into that more later in the post

Though most of all, she gets upset when things don't go her way, like when she got angry at Shelldon for failing to get the Shadow Transmitter, calling him a "Useless drone"

Now with all that, how does Kendra see herself? Well, we know she sees herself as the greatest hacker and also refers to herself and her group "misunderstood teens that don't play by the rules" but considering she's constantly talking with a sinister tone, I genuinely can't tell if she's aware of how bad she can be and doesn't care or she doesn't see what's wrong with what she does. I'm inclined to assume the latter considering all we know about her so far

Another thing to note, despite her love to gloat, Kendra is pretty quiet when it comes to talking about how her tech works. At least compared to Jeremy who jumps at the chance to explain how things works. Maybe she doesn't want anyone to steal what she does?

Ch 3: Kendra's Relationship With Others

Donnie:

At first Kendra did not care about who Donnie is. If Donnie hadn't stopped her from robbing the Nakamura company, she probably would've continued to not care about them, but they forced themself outside of being viewed as a pawn, and is now viewed as the enemy. And what does Kendra do in retaliation? She tries to trick them into destroying their siblings

In turn, Donnie did have a genuine interest in joining her group (and also getting that purple jacket), but that was quickly diminished when she stole their tech. Because of it, Donnie usually seen trying to stop Kendra from stealing any other codes or devices, and even warned Shelldon about her and the other Purple Dragons before he even met the group

April:

Now technically we have no idea what relationship Kendra had with April. However, what interests me is April's reaction to Kendra. She just seems so done, almost as though she witnessed Kendra being Kendra for way too long or she was also screwed over by Kendra at some point in her life

Even when Donnie's stuff got stolen, she just wasn't surprised, at all

And it contrasts how she is towards Taylor, another cool girl character who's a bit of a jerk, but April was more wanting to impress her

But this is all purely speculation, so I can't really confirm anything

Jeremy:

The closest Kendra considers an equal. He goes along with Kendra's antics without much of a fuss and is the one Kendra is the nicest towards. He doesn't even seem to mind whenever she expresses frustration over something

Even still, she tends to quickly shut him down when he tried to engage in conversation with Donnie and explain how the Purple Game worked

There's not much I can say due to there not being too much screen time for him

Jason:

So Jason is the weaker link of the group. He's the one that Kendra treats more harshly and is barely considered a part of the group. We get this by Kendra snatching Jason's jacket to give to Donnie in The Purple Jacket and when she referred to the Purple Dragons as a duo rather than a trio (stating that Jason is on thin ice when he tries to correct her), and finally when she calls Jason the low man of the totem pole

Hell, Jason can barely have much of a happy moment without Kendra immediately knocking him back down. We get this from when he succeeds at bypassing the security in the Nakamura Simulator and she immediately says that he needs to be knocked down a peg and then when she reminds him that he's the low man after she agrees to let Donnie join

And surprisingly, we get some insight as to why. It turns out Jason is Kendra's stepbrother, and it's heavily implied that the only reason why he's even a part of the team is because of their parents. We get this when after Jason failed to get the Shadow Transmitter, Kendra says, "I wish my dad never married your mom"

Chapter 4: Theories

Okay, so the biggest theory for why Kendra acts the way she does is because of her potentially dealing with a divorce

It does explain why she has a need for constant control. It explains why she's into hacking and modifications. It explains why she's always trying to get her hands on a code or a device that could hack into any computer. It's also possible Kendra learned how to be manipulative starting with her parents

What it doesn't explain is, why the ability to hack into any computer specifically?

Now, I just want to also say that this obviously doesn't excuse anything. It doesn't excuse for how she treats Jason (who, may I remind you, is also dealing with the divorce as well). It's not an excuse for how she treats Jeremy. It's not an excuse for how she treated Shelldon. It's not an excuse for anything

Although that's all I can really say. Other than that, we have no idea what's actually going on in Kendra nor Jason's life. What I can safely say is that the parents are definitely not perfect because trying to force a relationship between anyone will most of the time completely fall apart

One thing I will note is how the only time Kendra has ever brought up the potential divorce thing was when Jason failed to get the Shadow Transmitter, and she doesn't say anything about a divorce, she instead specifically says, "I wish my dad never married your mom"

Overall Thoughts:

All 'n all, depending on your own experience, Kendra is basically the typical a-hole high school bully (or semi-typical)

Despite me having barely anything nice to say about her, I like Kendra, especially as a character. I think she's a pretty interesting character, and honestly I would love to see how she would develop as a villain. And I say villain because I highly doubt that she's going to willingly change for the better anytime soon and honestly? That's perfectly fine with me

If the show does somehow continue and Kendra does get some kind of redemption arc, she'd be an anti-hero at best, and hopefully it's out of her choice and not because the writers decided to put in the "she was in love with Donnie this whole time" trope

So, thanks for reading!

Also, if you want an analysis and/or an opinion on any overall stories, ships, theories, characters, etc to the fandoms I'm in or familiar with, I might do it depending on what it is

[runningfrom2am]

extremely late chapter 14 thoughts:

1. sejanus as much as i love you- maybe not throw yourself inside the house when coryo is having an existential crisis.

2. i love lennox because there should be at least one person who thinks the right way. i hope lennox keeps him on his toes so he thinks three times before doing anything.

3. “Unless you still didn’t see it that way.” ohhhh… the drama.

4. “the back cover of an old book about a man who hunted humans.” is the book “the most dangerous game”?

5. trying to materialise her morals with her prize must’ve been awful. only having money to hold as you’re in a train for that long with that many thoughts, i can’t even imagine.

6. i truly love the family r has and how even that makes her different than lucy gray. the latter was the oldest in her unit, as far as i know, while r isn’t meant to take care of anyone. also you are doing an excellent job at not casting them aside, as side characters usually exist for a quick second in fanfics.

7. Coriolanus Snow Being Honest To A District Woman? It’s More Likely Than You Think.

8. well, ladybugs bring luck.

9. thank you so much for not making her jump to his arms in a few seconds. she went through hell in that arena and at least half of it could be traced back to coryo. the emotional weight of that isn’t something that will lift quickly. she is bound to him by something greater than her feelings.

10. “I am yours for the walk and especially when I walk away.” MA’AM IS THIS FORESHADOWING IN A WAY?

welcome back bestie!! also i hope you had such a great birthday !!

1. yeah he was not thinking LMAO he was just like “on my way to see my friend !” and lucy gray was like “bro cmon read the room”

2. yes i love him :’) he was ready to swing immediately. i really love writing sibling relationships bc with my brother i’ve had so many different perspectives on it through the years haha, but now it literally doesn’t matter i’m like “this person is annoying” and he’s like “i’ll fight them rn” lol. i really think lennox needs to bring that energy bc r is WAY too gentle for her own good, even after all that she went through. he’s a good kid, of course, raised by the same parents, but he’s not nearly as timid and i love him for it.

and ANOTHER thing ab lennox- him and lucy gray both know more than her parents do, and both are clearly protective of her but she is still willing to give coryo a chance. he sees coryo as untrustworthy and a threat to r even though he knows she cares about him, but lucy gray is more optimistic ab it. idk, i feel like they see the situation clearly but in very different ways.

3. he’s like “shit i came all this way to be shut down didn’t i-“ lol

4. yes ma’am 🫡🤭 i mean i know it’s a short story but i have seen individual prints of it too (i had someone on wp be like “but that’s not a book it’s a short story” like girl i know pls-

5. no literally i would lose my damn mind. like you’re staring at an amount of money that can change your life and trying to convince yourself it is somehow worth it (which i know she could never do) would be actual torture i think.

6. i love her family so much, like realistically i can’t imagine r being the person she is without having a loving and supportive family.

also thank you! i love lucy gray and the covey too much to neglect them. especially maude ivory!! we deserved more of her in the movie!!

7. no literally. especially r’s mom. i think he doesn’t consciously know it either but r had talked about her mom quite a bit while she was in the capitol so i think he trusts her more than he would care to if he didn’t feel like he “knew her”. also i think important to mention that his fathers death also affected her so deeply and even physically.

8. that they do 🤭

9. AH you are so welcome. like as much as that would have been cute or whatever i seriously don’t think that was even an option for her it wouldn’t have made even a bit of sense. honestly, she was more likely to bolt back out the door and make a run for it hahahaha

10. IDK WE’LL HAVE TO SEE

[kind-of-a-shitty-wizard]

I've been thinking about him for some time already (YOU KNOW WHO...) and I think. he's just Like That ™. the gentleman killer. Haskillcore boring old man stuff enjoyer that spends weekends reading newspapers and philosophy books. looks down on people that lack manners. DOES want to serve for the best of his abilities and be appreciated. But ALSO I get the vibes... that he's the way he is because he's a shitty wizard.

HEAR ME OUT... It was just a joke at first but his fiasco with messing the most basic spell and being thrown out of the train..... I feel like he, in fact, can be incompetent wizard and that can fuck him up SO BADLY... like inferiority complex... I can imagine him being young & dreaming of becoming a great wizard & failing painfully. So now he compensates it with self-taught magic and dark arts (his necromancy interest). “dark magic is just misunderstood, not evil"...

I also get vibes from him of being bullied? I would take away his lunch yk. And now he allows people to walk over him and it's not just a job thing he's just like that. Until the moment he snaps. And murder may be the way for him to feel being in-control, which he usually lacks. Feel like he hass power. He doesn't feel nor act like purple guy jeff the killer (he's too old for that) but. Sometimes he thinks “It would be nice to kill someone right now. I also need cash. Hmm.” and that's now it happens. Maybe he feels alive when he does that, but it's only in-moment feeling that doesn't stay. I feel like he's pretty sensitive and can say when he feels bad(offended) or good(proud), but doesn't really have emotional intelligence? The feelings are there, what to do with them? who knows. not him. he goes out on the streets at night. depreesion)

I think he knows a lot about magic and artifacts (found out about the relic by private investigation or smth) but he can't use that intformation himself! what a shame! I get the vibes that he can be almost . cursed . to be a bad wizard. he's probably not but it just feels that way. so many potential in such cringefail loser (/affectionate). and he knows that and mourns that! what does he do with his life!

I rotate him in my mind he's so interesting what is wrong with him . . .

NODS VIGOROUSLY ALONG WITH YOUR POINTS im sitting here taking notes for my fic fr!! i actually hit on a lot of the same conclusions you did which makes me so happy, but one of the main differences was i thought he might actually be a good wizard, BUT i think your reading that he's ACTUALLY just a shitty wizard is more interesting character-wise....

like you said "he knows a lot about magic and artifacts but he can't use that intformation himself" <- YESSS. i think the exact way that he's shitty is that he definitely has the theoretical knowledge, but he can't apply it for shit. <3 like at the end of rockport limited he clearly knew the flame spell he was going to use, he just... fucking misses by a country mile LMFAO, even the meat monsters seem a little cobbled-together, like he knows the the theory but there's little finesse in the execution.

"he's the way he is because he's a shitty wizard." <- OK BC THIS BASIS IS SO GOOD. hes got so much ambition but no talent, and that informs everything about him!! - it's my headcanon that he grew up lower-middle class, and i think combining that with being bullied and being bad at magic contributed to an inferiority complex. and he likes refined things precisely because he likes the image of himself as this powerful refined (rich) person when he's really just grasping at it desperately :)))

aaand i think the dark arts provide shortcuts to power for the price of sacrificing another living thing, SO FOR JENKINS, who was a shitty wizard and an asshole who's totally willing to sacrifice people for power, it suited him perfectly :)))))))

not to mention all the points u brought up abt why he kills are so good. i think it's firstly a practicality thing (he needs the money, like u said), but then secondarily an outlet for his anger (he's a bit emotionally unintelligent like u also said lol). i think he learned how to deal with this simmering hatred in the exact wrong way, where he bottles it up during the day when ppl push him around and then lets it out during his murders. instead of yknow... learning to not let ppl push him around, and manage his anger and deal with it less destructively SDFLSDFKJ. and it became a cycle. so now he's a serial murderer cos he's into this repress-release pattern, someone get this man into therapy or get him a boyfriend who can fix him !!

AND... okok final point bc its getting a bit long. "so many potential in such cringefail loser (/affectionate). and he knows that and mourns that! what does he do with his life!" <- YES. perhaps even. he is not cut out to be a wizard..... he clearly has ambition, and good taste, and a flair for the dramatic, and mental problems, which means. of course. he is perfectly suited for the theater--//SHOT

[a-student-out-of-time]

MOD

I SWEAR

YOU HAVE TO BE CORRECT THAT AREI IS ALIVE

IF YOU ARENT

I WILL COMMIT ATROCITIES

//I've seen continuous doubts about my theory, and for both Timeline Anon and others, this scene felt to them like the final nail in the coffin for that theory

//The fact that you're all immediately writing her off as dead when we're not even at the halfway point and there are so many unanswered questions is astounding.

//Ahem.

//If she's gone, explain to me why there's still so many unanswered plot threads and interesting character details

Why is it that J was the one who brought up that secret? A secret that Arei herself admitted she overheard, which directly lead into that flashback scene with those two?

Why has J been going so ham on Arturo this entire time? Yes, one could easily say it's because she's sick of him and put two and two together, but honestly, it seems like a bit of a leap from "you told me you wished you had a brother like mine instead of a sister" to "your sister killed herself"

//Again, I can totally understand her being vindictive over this, given all the shit Arturo's caused her and Eden. But from how Arturo was acting, honestly, I'm inclined to believe he didn't actually say anything like that

//But you know what makes perfect sense? The details that lead into my next point

3. We have an established time frame thanks to the alibis. We know that the scene with Arei and Eden took place not long after the playground breakdown.

//That means that was a large window of time for the two of them to switch places. But why?

//That's incredibly sweet, and we know she wants more friends. And we know that, at the same time, J has been dealing with Arturo. Arei just saw J pull a scalpel on Eden over his secret, so why wouldn't she want to immediately jump to the other person she likes in her own way?

//The person that's had to deal with him far longer than Eden. Why wouldn't she want to give J a hand after that?

4. Again, we know that Arei knows that there's a murderer in the group, and even if the switch wasn't about that specifically, that probably means that she was likely trying to help with that. This means that, if the blackened of this case isn't the murderer, she had no idea who actually did it. Why reveal herself then? That would make her the most suspicious.

5. Maybe it's just me, but I can't shake the feeling that J has been acting weird these last few episodes. She's an aggressive person, and admitted in her intro that she's judgemental, but there's never been indication that she's been this vindictive. Even regarding her own secret, this feels especially harsh.

6. This moment right here feels interesting to focus on

//Of all things to say?

7. The biggest one for me right now is actually Charles and Whit. Clearly, those two know something's up. There may not be a conspiracy going on in this group like I initially thought, but Whit is another person who Arei clearly was close with last chapter. He was the one who cut off Teruko learning about the note at first, and then there's this bit after Eden's story

//What are you two up to? What are you hiding?

//I'd almost be tempted to say they're suggesting Arei was actually lying, but that feels at odds with the ways they've acted and what they're saying. Not to mention Charles looks more embarrassed than concerned or angry

//Furthermore, there's the fact that there was so much attention drawn to Charles having a secret, including a CG and telling Teruko to reveal it during the trial...and then we got no follow-up on that. He was just like "Oh yeah, guess I didn't need to. It was Eden's."

//I don't buy it. There's clearly more going on here

8. Finally, the fact that they had an emotional scene like this? Not even halfway into the trial? If it was after the intermission or near the climax, if that was the last scene we got with Arei, I might've bought it. But putting it here? Not a chance. This has to be leading somewhere.

//Plus, you know who else was convinced their best friend was dead? Shuichi and Maki. And guess what? Them believing Kaito was dead was all part of the plan

//There's also the many, many unanswered questions throughout this chapter, from what it was Arei's crying reminded her of (again, still not followed up on), to Teruko's prosopagonsia (no, that isn't just here to set up something for a future case, I'm sure of it), to whatever the hell is going on with Nico, Hu, David and Ace, who are part of their own drama right now

//Yeah, sorry, I'm only increasingly convinced that I'm right about this. Admittedly, we keep getting thrown so many curveballs that it's getting harder to make sense of it all regarding the exact motive.

//But the fact that J has said things that it seems like only Arei would say and do, particularly being vindictive toward Arturo? And acted in weird ways, like being super concerned about Arei's well-being early on, saying things like "even if the person you tried to kill is still alive," all of it just odd to me

//I'm not in denial and I'm not saying this as copium, I mean that earnestly. There are so many weird writing moments and character bits, combined with hanging plot threads, that it leads me to believe that this is what they're building up to. It's really the only thing that makes sense to me right now

//Clearly they had a plan with Arei from the beginning, given that we got this huge emotional scene with her and Eden, but that can't be all there is to it. It's a sad and emotionally satisfying moment for her character to end on, but placing it here so early honestly leaves me convinced there's more to come

[infatuate]

9 book recs meme! tagged by @roobylavender; ty faatima <3333. this ended up being longer than i wanted it to be but oh well

the bloody chamber & other stories - angela carter

angela carter quotes get circulated out of context on this site every 2-3 business days but i really do think everyone should tap into the bloody chamber at least once. i have written many a paper on this book & each time i uncovered some new aspect i had previously overlooked but which carter hadn't. i'm not sure what i could say about it that hasn't already been said; this is one of the best fairytale anthologies out there, period. not to mention, those quotes are so much better in context.

decreation: poetry, essays, opera - anne carson

the first book of carson's essays/poetry i ever read cover to cover after crashing against plainwater hard when i was like 16. decreation is very aptly named - it's disjointed & deconstructed & more than a little strange, moving from subject to subject, essay to poem to play to opera and back again, but it managed to capture my attention the way none of carson's other works did. decreation is a journey through the self (through sleep & the subconscious, the spirit & God) that doesn't really arrive anywhere but is worth reading for the journey. aside from showing me just what could be done with form, it also introduced to me to marguerite porete, who became my own personal medieval mystic-martyr special interest. i've since read a lot of carson, but i still think decreation is her most interesting (& maybe underrated?) work.

violence & the sacred - rene girard

a solid 75% of my essays in my last two years of undergrad used this text as scaffolding of some sort. even when i wasn't writing about violence, sacrifice, or mimesis, i was thinking about it. this is a dense book of theory that flies by because everything girard is saying is simultaneously insane & so so compelling. other people have if you're interested in rituals, the societal function of violence, the origins of the word scapegoat, or you just want to find a new jumping off point for your own thoughts on any of these topics, i think you would find violence & the sacred a really fascinating text.

the children of húrin - j.r.r. tolkien

i read the children of húrin directly after reading the hobbit at age 14; i wanted another 'short' 'standalone' tolkien book to read before diving into the lord of the rings or the silmarillion. (i clearly did not know anything about tolkien at this point in my life.) but i don't regret it at all, because it's probably the best thing he's ever written. CoH is, for the most part, about the tragic life of túrin son of húrin & how the curse on his family dooms him & everyone he crosses paths with. the tighter focus on túrin's various fuck-ups and miseries is more intimate, more detailed, and more character-driven unlike a lot of tolkien's first age work. it's also the darkest thing tolkien's written, in my opinion; this is his longest most extended greek tragedy moment & he leans into it 100%. hubris, unintentional incest, accidental murder, suicide - the children of húrin has it all. túrin turambar you will always be famous!

a master of djinn - p. djeli clark

this is my favorite new fantasy read of the last couple of years. i went into thinking i wouldn't like it at all—it's set in an edwardian-era alternate history magical steampunk cairo, for one—but clark's writing is incredibly immersive. he's very skilled at reimagining history in a way that both makes perfect sense & is wildly inventive. i thought some of its critiques of colonialism were a little shallow but otherwise it was fun. and lesbian! the main character is a dapper muslim butch, and while i'm not usually a 'representation for its own sake' kind of person, i couldn't help but be obsessed with fatma. it helps that it has a more refined perspective on islam compared to virtually any other muslim/arab fantasy novel i've ever read (this is not a high bar). a master of djinn comes with not one, but two short stories set in the same universe, so you can check out clark's writing for free & see how you like it.

as meat loves salt - maria mccann

this one was recommended to me by a twitter mutual almost 2 years ago and i haven't reread it since, but i think about it frequently anyways. it's a historical fiction novel set during the english civil war, following jacob cullen, a man initially of gentle birth who becomes a servant who becomes a soldier in the parliamentary army. characterizing it beyond that gets tricky; how do you properly describe the completely insane depths of rage, lust, love, & obsession that mccann plumbs? as meat loves salt is for the hannigram girls, the heathcliff/cathy girls, the girls who enjoy devotion & obsession going hand in unlovable hand. major tws for rape & violence, & i don't think i could read it again unless i was in the right headspace, but this one is really good.

ship of magic - robin hobb

i could have put any robin hobb book here, because i do think everyone should read robin hobb at least once. especially if you have even a passing interest in fantasy. ship of magic made the final cut because it's the perfect beginning for anyone who might be turned off by the slow character study that is the farseer trilogy. liveship traders is more fast-paced with a rotating cast of v unique characters and the best villain she's ever put to paper. it has talking ships, terrible parenting even for a fantasy book, representation for awful horrible teenage girls with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, & a truly original take on dragons.

beowulf: a new verse translation - seamus heaney

when i decided to minor in medieval studies, beowulf was at least 60% of the reason. i read the r.m. liuzza broadview translation for class (which i love, to be clear), but my prof recommended that we go read heaney's translation anyways, because it's both a good translation of beowulf & an exercise in poetic brilliance. to me, heaney's beowulf feels less like a translation & more like a free-verse poem he wrote while possessed by the spirit of a 7th century scop. i know there are better, more accurate/faithful translations, but this one has a spirit to it that's difficult to find elsewhere. honestly it's worth reading for the introduction alone.

the fortune men - nadifa mohamed

my token contemporary non-fiction fiction novel of the past couple of years. i'm always rooting for everyone somali but also? nadifa mohamed is just a great writer. this novel is set in 1950s cardiff, wales, and dramatizes the true story of mahmood hussein mattan, a somali man who was wrongfully executed for the murder of lily volpert. mohamed approaches the events with so much empathy for both victims and the extensive research she did shines through at every moment. the consistency and conviction and clarity of her writing will convince you that, even if you don't know anything about the city or the time period or the events unfolding, she definitely does. she was kinda robbed for the booker but that's just my opinion.

tagging @derelictship; @misericordae; @hesitationss; @yevrosima-the-third; @gawayne; @butchniqabi & anyone else who wants to do it!

[sonseulsoleil]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

I was tagged by @hmslusitania! Thanks Hayley!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

110

2. What’s your total word count on AO3?

483,852

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Whatever I am obsessed with at the moment. The last stuff I was working on was Percy Jackson fic, before that Heartstopper (and I WILL get back to those wips eventually). Oh, and Newsies is also currently in the works! Basically I have ADHD and I am all over the place all of the time. I'll go back to wips I started 5 years ago and keep working on them. What I've written vs what I've actually managed to polish and post is a HUGE disparity lol

4. Top five fics by kudos

- All We Do Is Run

- Let the Whole World Melt Away

- never saw you coming (and I'll never be the same)

- sugar, butter, flour (what a mess I'm making)

- stay in my arms if you dare (or must I imagine you there)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes, almost always. It takes me awhile sometimes, but I try to respond to every comment. I worry that if I don't respond, people will stop commenting.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I've written a couple Major Character Death fics, but they're not on AO3 because they were just drabbles so I only posted them on tumblr (also they're very old and bad)

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

hmmm maybe All We Do Is Run, just compared to the source material lmao

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I have a couple times. Mostly on fics where I've introduced OCs, which sucks.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, sometimes. But I don't post it. I write it for myself and will maybe share it with friends if they're interested.

10. Craziest crossover?

I've never written a proper crossover. I'll write AUs where I take the characters of Property A and put them into the story of Property B, but I've never written a true crossover where characters of two properties interact.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope, but I've definitely had fic concepts stolen. Which sounds petty, but I've made posts about fics I'm working on and had people take them and write their own fics with the same details I mentioned and it's like. Not plagiarism exactly and it's impossible to own ideas, really, but it does rub me the wrong way.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

A couple times! It's very cool!

13. Have you ever Co-written a fic?

I tried once a long time ago and it went poorly. Turns out I am not a very good collaborator sometimes.

14. All time favourite ship?

I don't--you want me to pick ONE?! are you kidding lol

15. What’s a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have SO MANY. There's a Star Trek fic I've been working on off and on since Beyond came out. There's my mermaid!Buck 911 fic. There's my current Heartstopper fic. There's my PJO Anastasia fic. There's my angst canon divergence Psych fic. My google drive is a graveyard of partially written stories begging to see the light of day.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing things, clearly.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Depends wildly. I've written this in some Heartstopper fics, because Nick speaks French. And I had a friend who is fluent in French help me get it right. I think when people take the time to find a fluent speaker to help them or are fluent themselves, it's fine and good. And when people are just using google translate, it shows. Also, obviously, being bilingual has to make sense for the character. I also especially have beef with the way people often write latine characters/Spanish specifically. I grew up surrounded by latinos and nobody talks like that. Stop it. You all know what I'm talking about.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

ABC's Castle. Say what you will about Nathan Fillion, but that show shaped me as a person.

20. Fave fics you’ve written?

All We Do Is Run (longest multi-chap I've ever written. this thing was years of my life.)

répète (the only one of my GMW/BMW fics I regularly go back to)

tin can telephones (it's all written in texts and dialogue and that was really fun)

I'm tagging @firstelevens @memequeme @galwithalibrarycard and anyone else who wants to do it!